(I doubt he'll even read it, but what the hell -- I enjoy rattling his cage!)
Senator Portman:
By all accounts, today you will stubbornly stick to your incorrect position and vote against the confirmation of Ohio Democrat Richard Cordray to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray is well-qualified and well-respected by everyone, even by you. But instead of confirming his appointment as you know you should, you want to turn the vote into a referendum on the agency itself. You tell us the CFPB will have too much authority and lacks “accountability” – meaning simply that you Republicans hate the very idea of the CFPB and if it can’t be made to disappear, then you’d like Congress to be able to control it, hamstring it, and de-fang it to the point of uselessness.
Rob, that’s not your job. The CFPB is a legitimate federal agency. It was designed to have a high degree of independence and authority over the financial sector for a very good reason – it was the deregulated, no-oversight environment favored by you Republicans and your patrons that created the Crash of 2008 and the Great Recession with which we still live. The CFPB will offer us some safeguards against a repeat performance. The fact that you and your backers are so vehemently opposed to the CFPB gives strong proof as to the need for its existence.
But like I said, you’re missing the point. Your task now is not to debate the need for the agency or the conditions under which it will operate. That’s already been done. The agency exists whether you like it or not. Your job is to just vote yes or no on Rich Cordray. If you understand who you’re really working for, then I don’t see how you can vote no.
We’ll be watching.
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